Carl T. LaFong
Carl T. LaFong (callsign Prankster) is a Lt. Colonel (TCSN Retired). He was pilot on the . He fought in many of the same battles as Christopher Blair. He wrote a biography (The Memoirs of Lieutenant Colonel T. LaFong: The Kilrathi War's Greatest Ace (TCSN, Retired)) of his time on the Tiger's Claw and Concordia at the age of 73 many years after the war. He seems he has taken some of Blair's stories for his own(or he at least flew in Blair's shadow, and experienced similar situations).Star*Soldier, 7, 26 Prankster was one of the war's top twenty aces (an honor he shared alongside Christopher Blair (Maverick), and Todd Marshall (Maniac) whom he often had the honor of flying with throughout the war.Star*Soldier, pg 7 They were among a disproportian number of aces who served in the Rapier II squadrons. In his later years he worked as a consultant on the new Wing Commander holo-vid., and wrote his own memoirs between 2689 and 2701.Star*Soldier, pg Cover,26 It was one of three major three major memoirs including one written by another former crewmember Jason Armstrong, and later another published by his old nemesis Todd Marshall. It was believed there was an unlikelihood that Blair's own memoirs would ever be published.Star*Soldier, 26 Biography He has had 14 years of school combined. When he was 9 years old he learned about the Enyo Engagement and Raymond Blakely was his hero ever since. He spent all his life, some 18 years preparing to enter the Terran Confederation Space Naval Academy, being one of the 1200 students who enrolled in the 201st Class for Hilthros, along with Todd Marshall and many others. Tanaka Mariko gave them their initial orientation and met Todd Marshall. He'd quit after the first week if he did not take his duty seriously. During the first two weeks in the Academy LaFong had cleaned a latrine with a toothbrush, packed and repacked his footlocker until the company commander decided he could do it with a blindfold, and stood a three-hour midnight watch over a dead bug found in the hallway outside his room. LaFong also had to cope with the upperclassmen's badgering. He had put up with standing at the table with his food tray until all the upperclassmen were seated, or sang at the top of his lungs while perched on one leg on top of the table. Plebes had to comform to strict table manners (eg. left hand is down unless holding the knife, which has to be placed on the right side of the plate at a 45-degree angle, with the blade facing the inside of the plate) or had to do with the "Protractor Patrol". A 1st Classman found his knife to be resting at 50 degrees and obliged him to eat with no hands for one week. He promised to himself that if he ever had the opportunity to reach an audience, he would deliver a special message. His close roomate and friend was Michael Anthony, who also shared the room with Christopher Blair. He, Anthony and Todd Marshall were often at odds and competition with each other. Once tried to pull a prank on him in revenge for Marshall's overall attitude, including the harsh words against Blakely. Once to defend his honor he and Anthony put a mixture of manure, grease, oil, and whipped cream inside of helmet, and put it out of site so when he arrived for his final match this time with LaFong, he'd find himself the victim of a terrible prank. This earned LaFong the callsign "Prankster". Marshall was so irate, and flew irratic that the plebes started calling him Maniac. As an upperclassman, LaFong rebelled against the system and opted not to repeat to the youngsters the badgering his class suffered from those before them. He made the plebes give one situp or 10-minute breaks, anything to show he did not take it seriously. LaFong was the only one who did so. He was among the only top 200 who continued training as fighter pilots and graduated from the academy. His first assignment was on board the with Todd Marshall, and Christopher Blair and four other trainees. He and Maniac were later assigned to the Tiger claw while the other five trainees remained behind. Though Blair was reassigned not long after (however Maniac and Blair would spend some additional time training on Sirius, and would ultimately board the Claw together in Taggart's transport). Actions during the Tiger's Claw After a period of leave, LaFong finally was placed on board the Claw at some point towards the beginning of the Vega Campaign, he was there early enough to apparently meet Bossman. He flew missions in Enyo with Spirit. His mission at McAuliffe with James Taggart was not a complete success, and he lost a Drayman to the Kilrathi. He was busy elsewhere and was not able to take part at Gateway. At Gimle LaFong had been scheduled to test the new prototype Rapiers. But he contracted Grinard's Virus and hit the sick bay. He was grounded while Tiger's Claw was in the Gimle system, because the disease affects equilibrium, Halcyon had him working communications. On his off time he hit the high-score on the Train-Sim and hung around and jawed with the pilots who went on the missions in the bar and library. He was sick the entire time the Claw was in the system. After recovering he flew missions at Brimstone with Maniac. He was reassigned to HQ while the claw was at Cheng-Du, and spent a few days there where he helped out with training of some of the new pilots. He looked at the reports of what he missed when he returned. While the Claw stopped to take on supplies, while heading towards the ship's library he was stopped by Paladin who knew he and Maniac weren't friends, but asked him to talk to the pilot and try to get him to shape up, or he would be written up. He tried to give Maniac another chance. After that he flew missions in the Dakota system with Joseph Khumalo. After Dakota, the Claw traveled to Port Hedland, and LaFong was assigned to pull a "flying bus" assignment while in the system. Instead of a combat missions he was moving fuel by Drayman to Planck's Star, where a kilrathi destroyer had decimated the storage facilities. With pilots at a premium at the time, it was absolute necessary. He didn't get to hear about the combat that took place until he returned. He also missed the TCSO show and Saranya Carr which he had wanted to see during the mission. He later was able to fly missions in the Kurasawa system with Kien Chen. One of his missions didn't go so well and he lost a Ralralri. But in another he was able to help save his former commander Della Guardia and the Formidable where he had served. He was able to see his old commander again after the mission. Next he flew in missions at Rostov with Michael Casey, and finally at Venice with Ian St. John. He spent two years on the space carrier and was one of few to survive the Vega, Goddard, and Firekka Campaign]s. Like Blair he claims he was also accused of destruction of the Tiger's Claw, and spent ten years on the Caernarvon Space Station. Serving on board the Concordia He later served on board the TCS Concordia during the Enigma Campaign (where he may have learned of Blair's actions during the events of the campaign). He retired not long after taking part in the destruction K'tithrak Mang, and was promoted to Lt. Colonel. After which he either became a very close friend of Jeanette Deveraux or initiated a love triangle between her and Christopher Blair but this was brief. Both are known to have had champagne celebrations in her quarters. Military Retirement In total he had spent fifteen years fighting for the Terran Confederation, before he retired having grown weary of the war and killing others. Late in his life, at age 71, he received an unusual call from a brash kid who identified himself as Tristan Roberts. He wanted to hire Long for his next bionetic holovid. He was designing interactive holovids that would allow people to experie the Kilrathi Wars as a pilot on the TCS Tiger's Claw, and in the sequel, aboard the Concordia. They needed LaFong as an advisor so that they would be as accurate as possible. He was given a solar, antigrav limo, and fed fruits from the second planet of the Brimstone System. These were released as Wing Commander I, and Wing Commander II respectively. During the project he thought about writing a book on his experiences as well published around his 73rd birthday at some point between 2689 to early 2701. In 2701 Todd Marshall related his own memoirs Me: The Life and Battles of "Maniac" Marshall, which competed against those written by LaFong and Jason Armstrong. :The sheer exhilaration with which Marshall tells his war stories gives his book a leg up on the likes of Armstrong and LaFong.” —Michael Gallagher Personality Perhaps having a higher ego than even Maniac (if that is all possible) he calls himself the Greatest Ace, and takes credit for all the major events of Wing Commander I and II. He has been pretty successful with Tristan's help exploiting the universe with his possibly plagiarized and embellished story. He openly admits that fame has gone to his head. Perhaps stealing Blair's stories and embellishing them was the greatest prank of his lifetime. Then again any resemblance of his past to the history of persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental (and his life mirrored Christopher Blair's).Star Soldier, pg 7, 26 Like Maniac, he doesn't play entirely by the book, and is known for his elaborate and often malicious pranks, which earned him the callsign Prankster during the academy. However, unlike Maniac he is willing to listen to advice of his peers, and tries to keep them safe. He is not really a friend of Maniac's they are often at odds with each other, although he has due to other's suggestions tried to help Maniac to become more of a team player. He also began to care enough when Maniac started losing his mind, to try to get psychiatrical treatment for him the following two years after the destruction of the Claw. He is almost the complete opposite of the lowkey and mild disposition of Christopher Blair. Perhaps the fact that he and Anthony shared a room together at the academy inspired him to steal portions of Blair's life story, incorporating it into and to embellish his own. In particular he is one to directly tie himself into nearly everything about the Enigma Campaign ten years after the destruction of the Tiger's Claw to 'prove his innocence'. Events that were clearly similar to Blair's history and experiences. Thus anything claimed from the point he survived the Tiger Claw's destruction forward may be suspect. He claims to have gotten close to Jeanette Deveraux and didn't know if it was just a trusted friendship or love, he hoped there was the spark of romance there, whereas Blair actually had actually been physically and romantically involved with her. However, he did go as far as get a champagne celebration with her in her quarters after the destruction of K'tithrak Mang. Still he never tried to incorporate Blair's later career and the destruction of Kilrah into his story, and it seems that he himself may have retired from the Naval force some months after the destruction of the K'tithrak Mang, and after developing a disgust of war and the taking of lives. Though he wrote his book at some point between 2689 and 2701, he was blissfully unaware of the the Nephilim war, believing that the Confederation hadn't encountered any hostile races since the Kilrathi Wars.WC1&2 guide, pg 2 Behind the scenes Carl T. "Prankster" LaFong was created for the Wing Commander I & II: The Ultimate Strategy Guide as the protagonist and narrator. He is representing the actual canonical "truth" behind the first two games, while the games themselves are treated as an "adaptation" of his career; as such he is represented by the (unnamed) player character. The book has details of LaFong's background outside the games, such as his enrollment to the Academy, his studies, his life between some missions and the two games, and his retirement. Prankster is referenced as a seperate canonical character alongside Maverick (Blair) and Todd Marshal (Maniac) in Star*Soldier on page 7; :"The Rapier II replaced the aging CF-117 in 2654 and immediately made an impact: Dragon, Bandit, Maverick, Maniac, Prankster... a disproportionate number of the war’s top twenty aces served with Rapier II squadrons." According to the writer and designers notes for understanding this reference; :"Prankster" - This isn't the last time you'll see this: as awful as it is, I find the idea that Carl "Prankster" LaFong (the character from the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide) and Chris Blair are two different people hilarous."http://www.wcnews.com/cgi-bin/searchnews.cgi Another reference is made on page 26 of Star*Soldier :“The sheer exhilaration with which :Marshall tells his war stories gives :his book a leg up on the likes of :Armstrong and LaFong.” :—Michael Gallagher This reference is explained by the designers and writers as such; :"Armstrong and LaFong" - I love this joke and I get the feeling everyone else hates it. Armstrong and LaFong were alternate names for Blair, used in Super Wing Commander and the Wing Commander I & II Ultimate Strategy Guide respectively. This is actually addressing a real book, since the conceit of that latter guide is that now-octogenerian LaFong has written his memoirs and you're reading them. Sorta contradicts Blair's death, too, if they're the same character... The player character in the series was later canonized as "Christopher Blair" in and from then on, the characters have diverged and Blair was developed a different background. In the Kilrathi Saga manual there are a few references to the Guide, now mentioned to refer to Blair, like the terms "Hilthros" and "201st Class" and references of Raymond Blakely and Michael Anthony as Blair's roommate, and the Kilrathi Saga versions of WC1 and WC2 defaults to the name Blair and Maverick callsign. It seems that the Saga manual and Kilrathi Saga versions of the games intended to merge LaFong and Blair or simply rename LaFong as Blair. While Star*Soldier again makes them seperate characters who often served together. An understanding of the conceit behind the first half of the book (concerning the WC1 material) is that LaFong is telling his story, not necessarily Blair's story although they served together and presumably had missions that were very similar to each other (although specific stories for Blair during that era have never been publishedStar*Soldier, 26). Wing Commander the game itself offers a number of alternate missions with similar objectives with just character and location names changed (the book points this out by suggesting that the video game is a composite of many different missions and stories from many different sources in the war, the Memoirs of Carl T. LaFong just represent experiences and the missions he specifically was on). This also plays with the fact that in WC1 during mission briefings there are a number of pilot heads who all represent pilots out on missions at the same time assigned the same or different squadrons (game limitations only allow for a wing commander and his wing mate in a mission at a time, when the stories suggest there are many more pilots out there patrolling many different points). As Wing Commander 2's events became a bit more problematic as they give specific references tied into hard cutscenes, and other sources give direct references to Blair during those events (the reliability of LaFong's account is thus less clear in those chapters, and would seem less likely that he would encounter the same specific events, punishments and locations as Blair). Although Star*Soldier may suggest otherwise, that any resemblance in histories is coincidental. This wiki follows Star*Soldier in that the Memoirs are canonical in-universe documents written by LaFong, and that Blair, LaFong and Armstrong are each separate canonical characters who 'coincidently' seemingly happen to have shared the same or similar adventures (in actuality or form of plagiarism). Some fans may see the missions as referring to the actions of Blair, rather than LaFong, but this does not always work as LaFong's actions outside of the scope of game's missions are often tied back into those missions themselves, including his motives and choices, and thus are an important part of LaFong's background (but these do not necessarily fit with Blair's backstory or motives as discussed in other sources). Technically the exact details of Blair's actions during that period have never been given in any published source. This is nodded to in Star*Soldier when it mentions the unlikelihood that Blair's memoirs would ever be published. :“Given the unlikelihood of seeing :Blair’s memoirs, Me: The Life and :Battles of ‘Maniac’ Marshall offers :the clearest possible picture of :the missions that defeated the Kilrathi.” ::—Dr. Silas Torg, U. of Central Florida From the developer and writer notes; :"unlikeyhood" - Is this Torg's passive-aggressive way of reminding everyone that Blair is dead, or is he still alive and just unlikely to write a memoir (like Neil ARMSTRONG)? Also noted in Star*Soldier as part of the meta-joke is that it implies that Marshall apparently embellishes his stories and egoistically inflates his own importance during the war, possibly even going as far to insert himself where he might not have been (an accusation which may be handed towards Armstrong and LaFong as well). Participation in Vega Campaign Ultimate Guide allows for the 'alternate' losing paths in WC1 to exist within the same continuity while LaFong were dealing with the main path. LaFong flies both winning and losing paths; Enyo to McAuliffe (loses a vital mission), heads to Brimstone, to Dakota, to Kurasawa (loses a vital mission), to Rostov, to Venice. Gateway, Chengdu, Gimle, and Port Hedland are put chronologically between other missions, but LaFong is out of commission elsewhere and cannot take part in them. *Gateway Missions are flown by Iceman and Paladin, and Knight. It is set after McAullife, or concurrent. *Gimle was flown by Spirit and Angel while LaFong was sick with Grinard's Virus, it was an all women wing. Spirit comments she wishes there had been all women wings (if so the war would have ended faster). It is set after McAulliffe, but before Brimstone. *Brimstone is set chronologically between Gimle and Cheng-du and flown by LaFong and Maniac (technically a losing path for him). *Chengdu is flown by Paladin and Angel while LaFong was off at HQ to train new pilots. It is set after Brimstone, and before Dakota. *Port Hedland is flown by Spirit and Knight while LaFong delivers fuel in a drayman to Planck's Star. It is set after Dakota. Followed by Kurasawa, Rostov, and Venice. Hubble's Star and Hell's Kitchen are flown from the by Pitak Puzaki, Marsha Shannon, and Reynolds Carpenter. These appear to have occurred about the same time as Rostov and Kurasawa. Christopher Blair on the other hand flew in these sectors and apparently took the winning path every time (Enyo, McAulliffe, Gimle, Dakota, Kurasawa, and finally Venice), or perhaps he took the opposite path to whatever Carl took, other than those leading to game's bad ending. Age LaFong's age at the time of WC1 (2654) is not easy to figure out. But there are a couple of references that may imply that it was probably between 18 to 27 years old. He was 9 when he learned bout Blakely which lead to him wanting to be a fighter pilot. He mentions he spent 14 years of school previously, and mentions that he and the students spent 18 years preparing to join the academy (this could mean 18 years of life, or 18 years of exercise and training total). Following this he spent about 3-4 years at the Academy. In his 3rd or 4th year he was onboard the Formidable, and then transferred to the Claw by the 4th year. He was on the Claw for about two years before it was destroyed. Then ten years on Carnaevon, and a year or two on Concordia. He claims to have been 15 years total in the navy before he retired. Many years later some date after 2689 at age of 71 he helped make the holo-vids, and the memoirs were put together and written when he was 73 some point before 2701. Assuming he was 4 when he started education, 14 years later, he would have been about 18 when he joined the academy. If he started preparing 18 years for the academy after 9 he would be 27. Taking Star*Soldier into account if the Memoirs had been published as late as 2701 before the publication of Marshall's book; LaFong would have been born about 2628, and he would have been about 26 in year 2654. If he had published it as early as 2689, he would have been born in 2616, he would have been 38 in 2654. Which as Taggart at 45 is an example way past regular flying age, and 25 is considered within normal regulations. This this would more than likely make the publishing of his book between 2699 and 2701 to avoid being too aged. category:Terrans category:Terran Confederation pilots category:Tiger's Claw personnel category:Concordia (CVS-65) personnel Category:Characters (Star*Soldier) Category:Characters (WC1&2G) Category:Top 20 Aces